SELBORNE HUNDRED 



NEWTON VALENCE 



Valence, like those of Oakhanger and Hawkley, passed 

 through the West family from father to son 28 until, in 

 the reign of Henry VIII, the long chain of descent 

 was broken. Thomas West, Lord De La Warr, con- 

 veyed the manor by fine in 1550 to Nicholas Bering, 

 who had married Elizabeth daughter of his half-sister 

 Dorothy. 89 Nicholas Bering died seised of the manor 

 in 1557, leaving a son and heir Thomas Bering, 10 

 who within the next year evidently conveyed the 

 manor of Newton to John Pescod, who died seised 

 of it in I558. 31 Thomas Pescod, who had succeeded 

 his father Richard the son of John in 1571, granted 

 the manor to his brother John Pescod of Roxwell," 

 who inherited at his brother's death in 1582." In 

 1586 John Pescod leased the manor to Henry 

 Campion, 34 and in I 590, on the death of John Pescod, 

 Nicholas Pescod his brother and heir granted the 

 reversion in fee to Campion, Thomas West, the 

 eldest son of Leonard West, half-brother of Thomas 

 Lord Be La Warr," who evidently had some residuary 

 right in the manor, giving his consent." Henry 

 Campion conveyed the manor by fine in 1605 to 

 Abraham Campion," who in 1611 died seised of it, 

 leaving a son and heir Henry.* 8 In 1622 Henry 

 Campion settled the manor on himself and his wife, 

 the daughter of Thomas Edney. An indenture of 1653 

 shows that Henry's son Richard was then holding the 

 manor, and was still holding it in 1698, when he and 

 his grandson Richard 89 alienated it by fine and 

 recovery to Br. John Nicholas, warden of Winchester 

 College. 40 On the marriage of Edward, son of 

 Br. John Nicholas, to ' Madame Anne Rachell 

 Newsham 'in 1711, the reversion of the manor was 

 settled on him and his wife and their heirs male. 41 

 Their son William married Harriet, the daughter of 

 Henry Boyle of Edgcott (Bucks.), in 1742, and 

 settled the manor on himself and his wife in the 

 same year. 4 ' Harriet died before her husband, 

 leaving one son, Robert Boyle Nicholas, and two 

 daughters, Harriet who died unmarried before her 

 father, and Charlotte who afterwards married 

 Br. Joseph Warton in 1773." William Nicholas 

 died about 1762 or 1763, leaving the whole manor 

 vested in his son Robert, with a legacy of 2,000 to 

 Charlotte when she should come of age in 1764." 

 Robert Boyle Nicholas held the manor until his 

 death in 1780. He was Captain of H.M.S. Thunderer, 

 of 74 guns, ' in which he was, with the rest of his 

 crew, unfortunately lost in a hurricane off the island 

 of Hispania ' 4i in the October of that year. By his 

 will, dated 1776, he bequeathed the manor to his 

 sister Charlotte, wife of Br. Joseph Warton, with 

 reversion to ' her second and third sons and every 

 other son in tail male taking the surname of Nicholas.' 



In failure of such to her daughters and their heirs 

 male, failing such to their daughters, and failing such 

 to William Nicholas his eldest brother and his right 

 heirs/ 6 Harriet Warton, the only child and daughter 

 of Charlotte, married Robert Newton Lee, and on 

 her mother's death in 1809 inherited the manor. 

 In the meantime, ever since the end of the seven- 

 teenth century, the various owners of the manor 

 seem to have unscrupulously bargained away parcels 

 of the demesne lands. 47 They seem to have seldom 

 been resident at Newton Valence, and so manorial 

 right gradually lapsed and became meaningless. Thus 

 in 1826, after the Newton estate had been sold to 

 Sir John Cope, Robert Newton Lee, in a letter to 

 William Bumaresq of Pelham, stated that a Mr. Beaufoy 

 had been in treaty for it, but ' declined the purchase 

 when no copy of court rolls could be found or any 

 other documents which had tended to prove it a 

 manor by suit or service.' Hence it had not been 

 sold to Sir John Cope as a manor. 48 



Henry Chawner, a London goldsmith, bought the 

 manor property about the end 

 of the eighteenth century of 

 the trustees of Robert Boyle 

 Nicholas," converted the old 

 house into kitchen apartments, 

 and added a villa in the ' Gre- 

 cian style.' On his death in 

 1851 his son Edward Chaw- 

 ner came into the property 

 and held it until his death in 

 1868, when it fell to his son, 

 the present owner, Captain 

 Edward Chawner of the 77th 

 Regiment, who served in part 

 of the Crimean campaign of 1854 and 1855. 



NO4R. Whether the manor of Oures, Owres, 

 Noare, or Nowers, known as Noar in modern days, 

 was in existence before the thirteenth century is uncer- 

 tain. In 1275 it is first mentioned in a hundred roll 

 and said to be held by the abbot of Hyde in chief and in 

 free alms, though from what time his tenure dated was 

 unknown.* It continued in the possession of Hyde 

 Abbey to the sixteenth century. 51 At the time of the 

 dissolution Oures, as parcel of the possessions of Hyde, 

 passed into the king's hand and is entered in the 

 Ministers' Accounts from 1539 to 1542." The king, 

 in the latter year, granted the manor to Nicholas 

 Bering," and in the next year gave licence to Bering 

 to alienate the same to John Pescod to hold by service 

 of relief to the king. 54 John Pescod died seised of the 

 manor held in chief for the hundredth part of a 

 knight's fee in 1558, leaving his son Richard as his 

 heir. 54 Richard Pescod, who seems to have had great 



CHAWNER. Sable a 

 cheveron binuttn three 

 cherubs or. 



18 See Oakhanger in Selborne. 



s Feet of F. Hants, Mich. 4 EJw. VI. 



80 Exch. Inq. p. m. (Ser. 2), File 997, 

 No. 1. 



81 Ibid. File 998, No. 7. 



8 " Pat. 31 Eliz. pt. 6, and 32Eliz. pt. 5. 



83 Inq. p. m. (Ser. 2), vol. 200, No. 37. 



M Feet of F. Hants, Mich. 28 and 29 

 Eliz. Confirmed by letters patent 32 Eliz. 

 pt. 5. 



8S Chan. Proc. (Ser. 2), bdle. 1 90, No. 27. 



Feet of F. Hants, East. 32 Eliz. 



W Ibid. Trin. 3 Jas. I. 



88 W. and L. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), bdle. 5, 

 No. 93. 



88 The son of his son Richard, who died 

 before 1692. 



40 Documenti penei Miss Lempriere. 

 Ibid. 



43 Ibid. This was evidently his second 

 marriage, as he had an older son William 

 as well as his children by Harriet. William 

 inherited his Warwickshire property. 



48 Ibid. Diet. Nat. Biog. Joseph Warton. 



44 Documents penes Miss Lempriere. 



45 So runs the inscription on his memorial 

 in Newton Valence church. 



46 Copy of will penes Miss Lempriere. 



*1 For instance, in 1687 Richard Cam- 

 pion had sold * two closes of land called 

 Pelhams adjoining the king's highway 

 . . . part and parcel of the demesnes of 

 the manor of Newton Valence, with rents, 

 dues, and services reserved, due and pay- 



27 



able' to William Knight of Faringdon. 

 This was the nucleus of the Pelham estate 

 which eventually swallowed up most of 

 the demesne lands. 



48 Letter penet Miss Lempriere. 



49 Information from Captain Edward 

 Chawner. 



50 Roe. Hand. (Rec. Com.), ii, 224 



" Pofe Nick. Tax. (Rec. Com.), 213*. 

 Feud. Aids, ii, 315 ; Inq. p.m. i2Ric. II, 

 No. 150. 



M Mins. Accts. 30-1 Hen. VIII, R. 135 ; 

 32-3 Hen. VIII. 



68 Pat. 33 Hen. VIII, r t. 8, m. 20. 



M Pat. 34 Hen. VIII, pt. II, m. 21. 



66 Exch. Inq. p. m. 4 and 5, 5 and 6 Phil, 

 and Mary, File 998, No. 7. 



